by Mark Puls
Washington needed to find shelter for his troops. Knox told him that during the army's retreat through New Jersey in November, he had reconnoitered the area for a favorable site to build winter quarters. He suggested Morristown, New Jersey, which was flanked by defensible hills and within striking distance of New York City. The Morristown site would also help the American army to protect the roads leading to Philadelphia. Having full confidence in Henry's judgment, the commander in chief immediately ordered the men to march to Pluckemin, New Jersey, and then on to Morristown to lay up for the winter.
The army arrived at Morristown on Monday, January 6, and Knox, still flush with the reversal of fortune over the past two weeks, wrote his wife the next day: "For my part, my Lucy, I look up to heaven and most devoutly thank the Governor of the Universe for producing this turn in our affairs; and the sentiment I hope will so prevail in the hearts of the people as to induce them to be a people chosen of Heaven, not to give way to despair, but at all times and under all circumstances never to despair of the Commonwealth.“29 He spent the next two weeks designing fortifications and barracks while also considering the needs of the artillery corps for the coming summer campaign. He was unhappy with the congressional choice of sites to locate the Continental arsenals, believing the decisions were based on political rather than military considerations. He recommended that Washington use his authority to relocate the magazines to sites more favorable to the army's needs.
On Monday, January 16, Washington gave Knox orders to establish the arsenals where he thought best. Knox was to travel to Hartford and hire contractors, rent buildings, and establish cannon foundries and gunpowder laboratories, keeping careful track of his expenses. Knox also provided Washington with detailed orders to pass on to Colonel Benjamin Flower, a skilled builder in the artillery regiment; Flower was to establish a similar arsenal in Yorktown, Pennsylvania. Unlike an artillery commander in any other army, Knox had to understand not only how to use cannons in battle but the intricacies of casting guns. His orders to Colonel Flower demonstrated his deep knowledge of the subject and included an itemized inventory for the arsenal, which included the construction of an air furnace and a mill for boring cannon after the barrels were cast. He ordered that Flower offer one-year enlistments to forty carpenters, forty blacksmiths, and twenty wheelwrights. The powder laboratories would employ turners and tin men and twelve harness-makers. Craftsmen were needed to make cannon carriages, wheels, and other parts to transport the guns.
The cannon foundry should be equipped to cast sixty guns in various sizes, six-pounders first and then three-pounders and howitzers along with ten twelve-pounders. The arsenal was to produce all kinds of ammunition for the army.
Knox ordered that sixty workmen be employed at the arsenal, each enlisted for the duration of the war and given various ranks with the artillery corps. He also provided Flower with a list of workmen needed to accompany the artillery corps in the field.30
The next day, Washington wrote to Congress: "Upon communicating this resolve to General Knox, who will have the principal direction of these matters, he was of opinion, that Hartford in Connecticut [and Yorktown in Pennsylvania] would be, on many accounts, more convenient for that purpose than Brookfield [and Carlisle], particularly in respect to buildings, which are already erected. . . . I should be glad, that you would, by a new resolve, permit me to direct the works to be carried on at the places last mentioned.“31
For reasons never made clear, John Hancock, president of the Congress, was irritated with the alteration to its plans. Writing on behalf of Congress on Wednesday, January 29, 1777, he told Washington, "As some steps have been taken with respect to the magazines at Brookfield and Carlisle, the Congress judge it best they should be erected there in preference to the other places mentioned by General Knox."
But by then Knox had already arrived at Hartford, which was not as well suited for an arsenal as he had thought. At the point where the Connecticut River ran by the town, it became narrow and shallow, and Knox believed the river would be difficult for transports to navigate. He proceeded twenty miles up the river to Springfield, Massachusetts, where the river widened and deepened. The site would be ideal for sending supplies north to upstate New York, which was the primary purpose of the proposed arsenal. Springfield also possessed several buildings that could be easily converted into laboratories and magazine warehouses, and the site was safely removed from the reach of the British. The materials necessary for casting cannons—copper, tin, and brass—also were available. Knox rounded up workmen from almost every manufacturing trade in the area and began to negotiate with blacksmiths, wheel-wrights, coppers and tin men, carpenters and smiths, nail-makers and others. He made arrangements for an air furnace to be built and a foundry to be established. This was the beginning of the famous United States Arsenal in Springfield, which later produced many technical advances in weaponry, including the repeating Springfield rifles used to such advantage in the Civil War. The armory did not close until 1968.
Knox then returned to his hometown of Boston for a long-awaited reunion with Lucy and a chance to see his daughter. He spent several days with his family while carrying on business. His brother William was trying to resurrect the bookstore. He had rented the old shop and was ordering volumes and repairing the damage. He peppered Henry with questions on how to proceed.
Spurred by the recent American victories, recruitment in Knox's home state and town proceeded under the direction of Jeremiah Gridley and was "exceeding rapid," he wrote Washington on Saturday, February 1. The state was trying to fill its quota of raising three infantry regiments and one of artillery. But to Knox's dismay, Massachusetts was offering recruits $86.67 to enlist for the duration of the war—more than four times the amount of other states. The state was having difficulty attracting skilled soldiers, who felt there was little need to join the army with the threat removed from Boston. The exorbitant rate threatened to disrupt recruitment throughout America, he wrote. Knox wanted more Massachusetts men in his artillery corps and sent a memorial to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, asking if a second regiment of gunners could be recruited.32
He also told Washington that he had decided to establish the munitions depot and foundry in Springfield and needed $20,000 to cover the costs. "If Congress should still adhere to Brookfield in preference to Springfield, it will delay everything for three or four months. I wrote General Greene from Springfield that it was the best place in all the four New England states for a laboratory, cannon foundry, &c., and I hope your Excellency will order it there.“33
Washington responded in a letter dated February 11, conveying Congress's insistence that the magazines and laboratories be established in Carlisle and Brookfield, but he gave Knox permission to use his judgment. "I will inform Congress of the necessity of this variation from their resolve.“34 Three days later, Washington wrote to John Hancock that he placed "weight, particularly in this instance" in Knox's opinion and had "ventured to order the works to be begun [in Springfield]." Washington asked that Congress give its approbation to Knox's change in plans.35
The congressional Board of War recommended that the arsenal be located at Springfield, but John Hancock refused to give up on the Brookfield site and the proposal was tabled for future consideration. Hancock, a wealthy Boston merchant with ties in Connecticut, remembered Knox's humble status as a merchant. On Friday, February 21, the same day that Congress voted to leave Baltimore and return to Philadelphia, John Adams recorded in his diary that Hancock sent him a note "expressing great resentment about fixing the magazine at Brookfield, against the book binder [Knox].“36
Knox spent several weeks in Boston attending to the Springfield arsenal and helping recruit as many artillerymen as he could find. Washington, meanwhile, believed that the British were collecting a force in New Brunswick and would soon attack. He was growing anxious for Knox's return to lead the artillery. The enlistments of most men in Henry's corps had expired, and Washington was eager for Knox to
arrive with fresh recruits with long-term enlistments. On Friday, March 14, he sent an express dispatch to Henry in Boston: "I have for some time past most earnestly expected you, to arrange matters in the artillery department, which has in a manner lain still since you went away. . . . As you see how necessary your presence is here, I hope you will make as much haste as possible to join.“37
Knox was back in Morristown a few days later, accompanied by a regiment of men he began to train for the artillery corps. Alexander Hamilton had been reassigned from Knox's artillery corps to become Washington's aide. The army was suffering another smallpox epidemic, more serious than the previous year, and the whole army was being inoculated. Most of the men whom Washington had persuaded in January to agree to a six-week enlistment had returned home, reducing the force in Morristown to just 3,000 soldiers. Although Congress had authorized the recruitment of 75,000 men, enlistments were lagging. To make his army seem larger than it actually was in British eyes, Washington sent out parties to attack enemy sentinels and foraging parties to several towns.
The effort to raise arms was proving more successful. France promised Silas Deane, an American diplomat in Paris, that it would send 200 brass cannons, 30,000 muskets, 100 tons of gunpowder, and money. On Monday, March 31, Knox wrote ecstatically to Lucy: "The enemy and we are laying upon our oars. What think you of the care of Providence to Americans in bringing in so many ammunitions, notwithstanding the care of our very malignant enemies? For my own part, I bow with gratitude to that High Power who putteth up and putteth down. America, under his smiles shall win.“38
To boost enlistments, Washington recommended that each state institute a draft. On April 14, 1777, Congress resolved that the provincial legislatures compel citizens "to furnish such a number of able-bodied soldiers" and that if quotas for regiments could not be reached by May 15 to "cause indiscriminate draughts to be made from their respective militia without regard to rank, sect of religion or other privilege whatsoever.“39
John Adams decided that it was time to push Congress to give official approval to Knox's decision to establish a Springfield arsenal, which was already being built. Writing to General Greene on Sunday, April 13, Adams said, "Gentlemen will oppose it, particularly the President [John Hancock], I believe, thinking Brookfield the best Place. I am not very clear myself, that it is the best, but from a greater confidence in the opinion of General Washington and General Knox, than in my own, I voted for it, and shall continue to do so." The next day, Congress repealed its order from the previous December and passed a resolution relocating the arsenal to Springfield in compliance with Knox's plan.40
Knox received further encouraging news that a French ship, the Amphitrite, had arrived at Portsmouth, Massachusetts, bringing fifty-three brass four-pound field pieces, cannonballs, musket balls, entrenching tools, and more than six thousand muskets along with gunpowder.
Washington was uncertain of the British plans for a spring military campaign. He suspected Howe would either attempt to march to Philadelphia again or try to send ships up the Hudson and cut off New England from the lower states, thus dividing America into two smaller and more conquerable regions. Washington decided to send his two most trusted generals, Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene, to the highlands in Peekskill to inspect fortifications and devise defenses. They received their orders for the mission on Monday, May 12, and set out from Morristown. The spring weather was warm, and the two friends enjoyed the time together. They visited friends of Greene's, including Abraham Lott, who lodged them for a night at his home. At Peekskill, they were received by Colonel Alexander McDougal, whom Knox had met on his mission to Ticonderoga. Knox and Greene inspected Fort Montgomery, which guarded the narrows of the Hudson near Bear Mountain, and Fort Constitution and Fishkill, farther up the river. Knox and Greene recommended that a line of floating timbers connected by cables be extended from Fort Montgomery across the river as well as an iron chain to impede enemy ships. Two ships and two long, low oar boats equipped with cannons should wait behind the chain to fire on approaching enemy vessels. They thought that the highlands and its passes could be defended by about 5,000 men for a short period until reinforcements could arrive. On Saturday, May 17, they crossed the Hudson to New Windsor and inspected and evaluated the terrain at West Point. Both men felt the site was vital to the control not only of the region, but perhaps of the entire continent because it stood at the confluence of critical waters and lines of communication. Knox and Greene then headed back to Morristown. Greene fell from his horse on a rocky mountain trail, cutting his lip and leaving him bruised but otherwise unhurt.
When the men arrived back in Washington's camp, Knox received letters from Lucy, who was already overcome with loneliness. Her family in England had cut her from their lives. She spent time with General Heath's wife, whose restrained, austere personality was very different from Lucy's. Lucy described her as "so stiff it is impossible to be sociable with her.“41 Smallpox also was sweeping Boston. Lucy and her children went to Sewell's Point (now Brookline) to be inoculated. She feared being disfigured by the infection and wrote: "You will want to know if I look as I did or whether there is danger of you not liking me as well as you did when you saw me last." Feeling insecure, she continued: "My dearest friend, my all, my Harry—where are you—are you safe—are you well? Would to heaven I could see you for one-half hour. Do you wish for your Lucy? Do you think of me? Do you ever shed a tear for me? 'Tis very hard thus to be parted. Will it last long, my love, or is the day at hand that shall re-unite us?“42
Knox wrote her sympathetically on May 20: "Though your parents are on the opposite side from your Harry, yet it's very strange it should divest them of humanity. Not a line! My God! What stuff is the human heart made of? Although father, mother, sister and brother have forgotten you, yet, my love, your Harry will ever esteem you the best boon of Heaven.“43
Henry told his wife that the Continental Army was much more prepared for the summer military season in terms of men and arms than the previous year. Washington's force had swelled to 9,000 men, and the munitions from France had been sent to Morristown, providing the army with 12,000 muskets, 1,000 barrels of powder, 11,000 flints, and clothing. "But, I am sorry to say it, we seem to be increasing most rapidly in impiety. This is a bad omen, but I hope we shall mend, thou I see no immediate prospect of it.“44 Professional gamblers had set their sights on the bored soldiers. Washington had recently banned the playing of cards, dice, or any games, except those designed for physical exercise, because it was impossible to distinguish "between innocent play, for amusement, and criminal gaming, for pecuniary and sordid purposes.“45
Lucy, who was well informed of the news in Boston, was surprised to learn through her social connections that France had sent, along with its cannons, an officer to lead the American artillery corps, Phillipe Charles Jean Baptiste Tronson Du Coudray. An adjutant general in the French army, Du Coudray had signed an agreement with Silas Deane in Paris the previous September that promised a commission as major general of artillery and engineers. He was a man of proven ability and impressive credentials with powerful connections reaching the French throne. Lucy was uncertain what to make of the news and seemed torn between her desire for Henry's return to private life and the manifest pride she took in his service. She wrote her husband in May: "A French general, who styles himself commander-in-chief of the Continental artillery, is now in town. He says his appointment is from Mr. Deane, that he is going immediately to headquarters to take command, that he is a major-general, and a deal of it. Who knows but I may have my Harry again? This I am sure of, he will never suffer any one to command him in that department. If he does, he has not the soul which I now think him possessed of.“46
Knox told Washington that he would resign if replaced or compelled to serve as second in command of the artillery corps. The general realized that Du Coudray's appointment was a delicate matter. American diplomats as well as congressmen were wooing the French, and rejecting one of their top off
icers could offend the court in Paris as well as the country's minister of war, who had hand-picked Du Coudray to aid the Continental Army.
Nevertheless, he was not about to lose Knox without protest. He wrote Congress on Saturday, May 31, asking that Du Coudray be given another assignment in the army, or the artillery corps risked becoming "unhinged." He wrote in praise: "General Knox, who has deservedly acquired the character of one of the most valuable officers in the service, and who, combating almost innumerable difficulties in the department he fills, has placed the artillery upon a footing, that does him the greatest Honor. He, I am persuaded, would consider himself injured by an appointment superceding his command, and would not think himself at liberty to continue in the service.“47
The following day, he also wrote his friend and fellow Virginian, Congressman Richard Henry Lee, "by putting Monsieur D'Coudray at the head of the artillery, you will lose a very valuable officer in General Knox, who is a man of great military reading, sound judgment, and clear conceptions. He has conducted the affairs of that department with honor to himself, and advantage to the public, and will resign if any one is put over him.“48
Generals Greene and Sullivan each threatened to resign if Du Coudray's contract with Deane was honored. John Adams vowed to Greene in a June 2 letter that he would never consent to appoint the Frenchmen as head of the Continental artillery and thought there was little support in Congress to do so: "I hope none," he wrote.49
But Adams quickly realized that Du Coudray could not be dismissed lightly because of his political connections. On Tuesday, June 3, the French general attended on Congress to await ratification of his contract with Deane. He presented his credentials, which included recommendation from three successive French ministers of war, along with letters from the American ministers in Paris, Benjamin Franklin and Deane. He impressed the delegates as a man of letters with proven military ability and knowledge and, in John Adams's words, was "esteemed the most learned officer in France.“50 Congressmen were flattered to learn that Du Coudray had been entrusted to oversee the casting of cannons in the French artillery and had personally picked out 200 cannons and escorted them to America. He was so subtle in his praise of the American militia that the delegates were encouraged by his pronouncement that it was the best he had ever seen. Believing the Frenchman did not hand out compliments lightly, they trusted his opinion all the more. On his trip from Boston, Du Coudray had reviewed the Springfield arsenal, and now he offered his advice for improvements to Congress. Delegate Charles Carroll wrote his father on June 13 with glowing praise of the French general: "I really am pleased with this gentleman, his address, though a Frenchman, is not elegant and easy, yet you may plainly see he has frequented and even been intimate with the polite and great. He seems to have studied more the arts and sciences than the graces; yet his plain and unaffected manner, his good sense and sweetness of temper gains upon us daily.“51